Warm Hands, Ignorant Heart
by lieselmemingersthievery
Summary: "I'm not going to ask what you did with Veronica at Cheryl's. But I'm asking you now, right now, if you love me, Archie. Or even like me." "Of course I love you, Betty." An AU of how the night of semi formal ended, rather than two hearts breaking.


_Author's Note:_

 _I've started Riverdale and I love it so much. I just can't explain how much I love Accidental Fuckboy Archie and Classic but Fucking Amazing Betty._

 _I hate that they've gone down this route of him only seeing her as a friend because KJ Apa and Lili Reinhart have so much chemistry. (Sorry for all the Veronica fans but I didn't like the actress for the part as much and I think Veronica is sort of bland. She was interesting in the first episode but it was for a few parts and then it just went downhill for me.)_ _Anyone paying attention can see how miserable Archie was whenever she wasn't sure whether or not she wanted to be friends._

 _This will be the shortest thing I will ever write but it is what it is and I was feeling inspired. This is how I wanted it to go, even if I took a few parts we learned in the second episode and added them in. I honestly hope these two end up together. I may cry if I heard the words, "They are endgame," and it doesn't happen._

* * *

 ** _"I'm not going to ask what you did with Veronica at Cheryl's. But I'm asking you now, right now, if you love me, Archie. Or even like me."_**

 ** _"Of course I love you, Betty."_**

Reflecting now to how Archie had asked her to marry him, to love him forever, he had always seen that as some childish, selfish, poorly-planned promise. He had never thought that maybe she meant it, that she would actually grow to feel for him at some point, rather than someone else. But standing here now, with the air similar to that of a cemetery in the dead of night, he saw how real it had been. How real a life _without Betty_ looked. It was a life he never wanted to know about, in all honesty; there had been Jughead, his other best friend (before their recent spat), but then there was Elizabeth Cooper. Irreplaceable, genuine, Betty.

It was one step forward, then another and another. His hands reached out for hers, hers being taken into his carefully. They were cold, while his were warm, but that was what made them work. He could share his warmth because he needed a little bit of chill to even him out. Yet, while she could bring that dose of harshness and reality to him, she was on her own level of warmth, as if she were the one ray of sun to break out from the clouds after the sun had been held captive behind them. He brought their hands up to his lips, blowing onto them to help heat them up.

His eyes moved from her hands to her blue pools, tears still brimming in them. Her tears were the stamp of proof that this moment would define every single one after it. Her pink lips were a light smile, though looked ready to crack at any moments notice.

"Archie, I don't think you understand the way I mean."

There was a pause, almost as if his heart stopped along with the time. One leaf that was falling off the side of her step moved in a fashion that suggested that it were actually frozen there. He had to make up his mind, now or never, as to how he felt about her. And some part of him knew that while she was his best friend, while she was Alice Cooper's daughter and the girl who'd lived next to him for all of his life, she was the only person who could understand him and accept him for and through every disappointment he would bring in the next few years. She was the only person he _wanted_ to understand him.

So he held her hands to his chest, placing them so that they were flat and against his heart, his own hands right on top of hers to still share his warmth. "I know exactly what you mean, Betty. And I mean it in the way you mean it. Maybe I'm not smart enough, maybe I'm not the guy you saw yourself standing here with five years ago. But I do know that I asked you to marry me when we were eight, and I have yet to let you say anything other than yes."


End file.
